بررسی تأثیر پراکندگی شهری بر ادراک شهروندان از میزان عدالت فضایی(مطالعه موردی: شهر شیراز)

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Urban sprawl is a recent issue in the field of urbanization which occurred in the US as a result of the development and expansion of highways as well as the prevalence of private vehicles. Afterward, this issue also spread to other countries, both developed and developing, such that over the past few decades, urban sprawl has been a fascinating topic of interest to planners and policymakers. This phenomenon often occurs either in a radius around the city center or linearly along freeways and beyond urban areas. In the developed world, urban sprawl, as the primary form of urban development, has come under increased criticism due to the high costs and negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. Moreover, its negative impacts have been extensively studied and documented. Urban sprawl can affect the ecosystem, traffic congestion, air pollution, increased costs, the weakening of the economic foundations of the city, reduced access, spatial segregation, inequalities, spatial imbalance, etc. Shiraz, one of the metropolises of Iran, has undergone the sprawl phenomenon in such a way that the population and the area of the city have increased approximately tenfold and twenty-fourfold respectively, and many of the gardens and farmlands have undergone land use change, i.e. construction, which are all indicative of the rapid expansion of the city. Since people with different economic, social, cultural, and political positions have different perceptions of justice in space, the present study has been carried out using the descriptive-analytical method aiming at investigating how the residents of the scattered areas of Shiraz city perceive spatial justice.





The Purpose of the Research:

The most important goal of this research can be considered the relationship between indicators and different dimensions of urban sprawl with the degree of spatial justice perceived by the citizens of these contexts.

Methodology:



The present research is descriptive-analytical, correlation in nature, and falls into the category of applied research according to the type of purpose. The data collection method is as follows: regarding the identification of scattered areas of the city, content analysis, review of literature, and previous studies of Shiraz was used. Moreover, a researcher-made questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.899 has been used in order to assess the citizens’ perception of spatial justice. Data normality was studied using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test in SPSS software, and the results indicated the normal distribution of data. To analyze the data, T-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used.



Findings and Discussion:



The results of the study reveal that the residents of scattered areas have very low perceptions of spatial justice such that most variables have had a mean below average. The mean value has been 2.56 for transportation, 2.73 for access to land use and its quality, 2.48 for environmental quality, 2.59 for quality of services, 2.39 for feelings about the neighborhood and social environment, 2.86 for safety in the neighborhood, 3.38 for participation, 2 for the performance and actions of the authorities as well as attitudes towards urban management, and 2.37 for limitations and opportunities. Additionally, the results of the Pearson correlation test in the regions indicate the highest correlation between the variables of quality of services (0.727) and environmental quality (0.571), which is the highest correlation among the components, that is, by increasing and improving the index of quality of services, the environmental quality index also increases.



Conclusion:



Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that can be visually perceived in the landscape and is characterized by low population density, automobile dependence, and single-use land zoning. Our study shows that Shiraz City experienced considerable changes in the last few decades. Sprawl has been and remains a problematic aspect of metropolitan growth and development in Iran. Among the important effects of this phenomenon, Spatial inequalities can be mentioned. This problem can cause the perception of injustice among citizens. Findings showed that the residents of scattered areas have very low perceptions of spatial justice such that most variables have had a mean below average; Therefore, solutions such as strengthening the cheap and accessible public transportation network, strengthening sustainable transportation methods, creating a platform for expressing popular expectations, trying to build mutual trust between citizens and urban management, promoting a sense of security among the surrounding context citizens’ are offered.